What if the gene itself is just like any other, but needs magic to activate? Like having a garden gnome infestation on the backyard, or perhaps a chance meeting with a unicorn?

 

My theory is that meddling with this - either via genetic engineering or via some Dark Magic Rituals(TM) it results in unwanted side-effects.

 

What kind of Harry do you like to read about in fanfiction?

 

The non-Rahkesh, Potter kind.

 

My preferred Harry is no saint. He is strong, yet has his weaknesses. He is human to put it plain and simple.

 

So you think your best friend has been put under the Imperius Curse - now what? Is there a counter-spell? How do you know if the victim has truly been freed from the spell, or do you treat him/her like the Manchurian Candidate for the rest of your lives?

 

I think I like reading a Harry capable of either critical thinking or intuitive badassery. If he gets everything he tries his best to be better at magic and save the world/people he cares about. If he is a badass, I want him to be instinctive about it, it's less training more he gets in danger and makes good fucking calls.

 

I'm hoping this isn't fanon I'm getting confused with, but don't the Order sometimes ask each other a personal question so they know the other person hasn't been hit with an imperius or replaced? If I remember correctly they do this at the beginning of the seventh book after the escape from Privet Drive, but I could be wrong. Anyway it stands to reason that you'd do something like this if you have reason to believe someone is being controlled, or if you need to be sure.

I'd have to guess that if you knew the person well enough, you could tell they'd been put under the imperius because they were acting odd - like Katie when she was trying to get the necklace to Hogwarts. That said, Rosmerta was under the curse for a long time and no one apparently noticed, so it's possible people only start acting strange when given a directive which is pretty scary.

On a counter-spell: Presumably there had to be one for them to release Katie and Rosmerta from Malfoy's curse. Or you just have to knock them out or something. Taking out the wizard who cast it also seems to work - all the Death Eater's who claimed they were being controlled apparently were freed by Voldemort dying and people seemed to accept that.

 

The Order uses a security question to try to catch infiltrators like Polyjuiced Death Eaters and whatnot, but there's no evidence that a properly placed Imperius Curse removes knowledge from its victims. An Imperiused Order member should have no problems answering the security questions.

The Imperius can't be very easy to detect when active, because both Pius Thickness and Madame Rosmerta were placed under the curse without being discovered by the many people they come in contact with on a daily basis. I'm pretty sure it's just fanon that the Imperius makes people act drugged-out and zombie-like. In canon, people under the Imperius can even use the curse themselves to place others under the Imperius.

Considering that the Imperius Curse can be resisted by the victim through mere strength of will, it doesn't seem like a curse that is particularly hard to break.

 

Again, I'm having trouble remembering here (it's been ages since I've read the books) but wasn't Katie acting pretty fucking weird when she was cursed? I believe that's what led to her accidentally touching the necklace - her being weird and zombie like, insisting she had to get to the castle and then one of her friends grabbing her?

Pius Thicknesse is a good example I suppose, but by the time he was put in power Voldemort was pretty much running things wasn't he? Even if someone realised Thicknesse was being controlled there probably was very little they could do about it by that point. Rosmerta on the other hand could just have very few close friends that realised something was wrong?

Okay, I admit I might be grasping at straws here but I hate the idea of the Imperius being completely universe breaking. I suppose that's what makes it so terrifying, much more so than the other two Unforgivables. Maybe legilimency would detect it?

 

It's canon that acting pretty weird is a result of an improperly placed Imperius. There's a bit in HPB where Fudge or Scrimgeor tell the PM that one of his co-workers has started impersonating a duck because of a shoddy Imperius.

Since I'm pretty sure it was either Draco or the Imperiused Rosmerta who cursed her, it probably wasn't a very good Imperius.

 

Can Veritaserum be used to find out if a person is under Imperius? I wonder if it could be used since the person has to tell the truth or could Imperius circumvent Veritaserum? Are there any spells or potions that would have "side effects" or negative "interactions" with certain other spells\potions? Kind of like drugs?

 

Give a person Veritaserum, then cast the Imperius on them and instruct them to lie.

Watch their brain explode out their nose.

 

Near as I can tell, Veritaserum is considered by the magical community to be no more reliable than a polygraph test. It can be beaten through antidotes, Occlumency, and "trickery". Testimony from the insane cannot be trusted, and those under its influence can only state what they believe to be true, which may not be objectively true.

In the absence of other canon evidence, I would assume that a powerful Dark curse like the Imperius, which can take total control over a living being, can overcome the effects of the potion and give whatever answers the placer of the curse wishes. This ties into the fact that nobody in canon ever considers the truth potion to be a particularly remarkable or useful thing.

 

It could also be the result of prolonged placement, as with Crouch acting batshit in the Forest. Which might also explain the association of strange behavior and the Imperius.

 

You're right, it's fanon. Genetics doesn't even enter canon as far as I can remember. It's expected that magic passes through generations, but it's not understood, or at the very least, not discussed in canon for the most part. There's also squibs and muggleborns that throw a monkey wrench in most theories/ideas, which leads me to believe that it's simply magic that makes someone magical.

Most of the time it happens. Sometimes it doesn't. And sometime it looks like it doesn't until it does (Neville).

 

I know someone asked this before but I can't seem to find it. Anyway, what are the limits to an Imperious? that is, when someone is under your spell and you tell them to do ballet or acrobatics, is it limited to the cursed knowledge of said actions?(they can't do what they don't know) or the casters, so long as the caster knows what they want?(Limited to the casters knowledge)

 

If I told you to go do f22w02( (#@lsfw(. Would you know what to do? The Imperious Curse works on the will of the person. It doesn't endow the person with knowledge.

 

And yet, Crouching Moody made a spider do cartwheels and a little tapdance. Perhaps against the subhuman the control is more absolute, whereas a sapient victim needs to be given reasonable instruction.

EDIT: In GoF, he made Neville perform astonishing gymnastics. I suppose if the caster can visualize the behavior, the victim must try to execute it.

This spell has extensive capabilities that deserves some deeper exploration, I think.

 

Also it gave Rosmerta the ability to cast imperius on Katie. Unless of course her pub is only a front for something a lot more sinister...

Krum casting Crucio on Fleur might also apply, but then we don't know how deep into the dark arts Durmstrang education goes.